Among many of those interested in
the future of The Bulletin in Bend there was likely a figurative sigh of relief
when it was announced that ownership of the 116-year-old newspaper would transfer
to another Oregon company.
For several weeks it had appeared
that a Canadian media group with a questionable past reputation might be high bidder in
the chapter 11 bankruptcy auction of Western Communications remaining
newspapers, The Bulletin and the small Redmond Spokesman.
But in the final days before a deadline
for offers, EO Media, Salem-based owner of several dailies and weeklies including
the Capital Press, bid $3.65 million, topping the $2.25 million offer by Rhode
Island Suburban Newspapers Inc. (RISN), an affiliate of Alberta Newspaper Group
(ANG) with offices in Vancouver, BC, and Horizon Management Services Inc. of
Illinois.
RISN made its initial offer on
condition the company would be paid a $67,500 breakup fee if another company
acquired the newspaper assets. In what was described as an auction before the
bankruptcy judge, EO Media and Adams Publishing, owner of the Herald & News
in Klamath Falls, and print media across the country, were involved in the
final bidding.
EO reportedly went into the auction
with the potential backing of The Bend Foundation, initially formed by Bend development
company Brooks Resources, the Tykeson Family Foundation, controlled by the
family who sold Bend Broadband several years ago, and other local investors
including Jay Bowerman, son of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman.
In announcing the sale, EO said the
local investors would not be involved in editorial decisions for the
newspapers.
A primary spokesman for EO in
announcement of the sale was Heidi Wright, the company's chief operating
officer. A subsequent August 16 Bulletin report said Wright would become
publisher of the newspaper while also serving as the COO of Salem-based EO
Media.
For Wright it will be a return to
management at The Bulletin, where she served as chief financial and human
resources officer from November 2014 to May 2017 according to her LinkedIn
profile.
She has also held business management
positions with chain-owned newspapers in the West including Lee Enterprises and
Wick Publications. Immediately prior to her tenure at the Bulletin she was
president of Klamath Publishing and publisher of the Klamath Herald & News
for 10 years.
With the announced sale, Wright had noted
that the company would be assessing current management and editorial positions
at the newspapers. The first major decision came with the announcement that Bulletin
editor Erik Lukens would not be retained by EO.
In the days surrounding the
management announcements several new bylines also appeared in the Bulletin,
along with locally-oriented stories that appeared to be either from freelancers
or reporters with other company publications.
With newspapers in eastern Oregon,
including the flagship Eastern Oregonian in Pendleton, EO can draw on reporting
resources that could potentially expand the Bulletin’s coverage reach. The
company’s Salem-headquartered Capital Press, focused on agricultural and
resource issues, has a dedicated subscription
readership in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and California.
Among EO group’s strengths is
digital media, an area in which the Bulletin has struggled to compete as the
print news business has transitioned with the advent of online content and
social media including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and others.
Photo: EO president & CEO Steve Forrester (center) with Crindalyn Lyster,director of digital services, and Matt Neznanski, digital products & support leader accept national award for digital media innovation. (photo from EO Facebook page)
The company’s media properties also include The Daily Astorian, Hermiston Herald, Chinook Observer, Seaside Signal, Cannon Beach Gazette, Coast River Business Journal and Oregon Coast Today.
Photo: EO president & CEO Steve Forrester (center) with Crindalyn Lyster,director of digital services, and Matt Neznanski, digital products & support leader accept national award for digital media innovation. (photo from EO Facebook page)The company’s media properties also include The Daily Astorian, Hermiston Herald, Chinook Observer, Seaside Signal, Cannon Beach Gazette, Coast River Business Journal and Oregon Coast Today.
The Eastern Oregonian traces its
history to the 1870s, and EO’s current controlling extended family's descendants have owned the paper since 1903.
The Bulletin has also reported that Pamplin
Media, publisher of the Prineville weekly, Central Oregonian, will be printing
the daily newspaper and Spokesman after expansion of its existing press
facility there.
Conditions of the sale require EO
to remove the press from the current Western and Bulletin headquarters building
on SW Chandler Avenue in Bend. The nearly $20 million debt Western incurred to
build the 87,000 square foot building is generally attributed as a key problem leading
to the company’s bankruptcy in 2011, from which it emerged, and the ultimate recent
bankruptcy demise nearly a decade later.
New York-based Sandton Credit
Solutions acquired the debt from Bank of America following the 2011 bankruptcy.
BofA had earlier taken over the loan originally made by Washington Mutual, after
that bank failed as a result of bad loans in the 2000s housing recession.
Sandton has listed the building for
sale at $18 million with local broker Compass Commercial Real Estate and CBRE,
a national company. The listing notes that the building occupies only 20% of the
9.78 acre site, creating opportunity for, “significant development potenial
with favorable zoning and a highly desirable location...”
Unlike financially-strapped Western
and The Bulletin, whose total
bankruptcy obligations before selling some properties was around $30 million, Wright
has said EO Media is debt free.
After initially proposing to the bankruptcy
court in January that it would attempt to restructure and continue operations,
Western later moved for an “orderly liquidation” of assets. EO then bought
two of the company’s newspapers, the Observer in La Grande and Baker City Herald.
RISN, with connections to ANG in Canada, bought the Union Democrat in Sonora, CA newspaper,
and other buyers acquired the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City, CA and the
Curry Coastal Pilot in Brookings.
Many locals in Central Oregon,
including business and community leaders, had waited nervously as the potential
Canadian buyer eyed The Bulletin. The company has roots related to David Radler, who served a federal prison
sentence for financial fraud in the United States along with former partner
Conrad Black for bleeding funds from Hollinger International, at the time a
publicly-traded company in the United States.
Through a web of companies and partnership,
reports say Radler still heads the Vancouver company, ANG, while his daughter is
involved in management of other related companies with a corporate address in
Illinois.
EO media is considered among several
newspaper industry professionals as a solidly managed company. In an email, one
media insider with direct experience with the Canadian group said EO’s purchase
was a positive outcome for Central Oregon.
“Have been following with great
interest,” one person said of the Bulletin situation. “EO Media Group is a
classy company. Good for the industry that they won the auction.”
Another former daily publisher in
Washington said he had met executives of the Canadian company which made the initial
offer for the Bulletin.
“I spoke to those guys and I wasn’t
impressed,” he said.
After learning of EO Media’s successful bid, he said, “Good outcome for the community.”
After learning of EO Media’s successful bid, he said, “Good outcome for the community.”
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